What is the Difference between Advertising and Graphic Design?

TV and cable shows are filled with characters who work in the marketing and communication industries. From news anchors to radio personalities to advertising executives to thespians, these seem to be the fun, sexy fields to be in.

Here is a short list:

• Ted Mosby of How I Met your Mother was an architect.
• Jack Dolfe of Big Time in Hollywood FL is a filmmaker.
• Penny of The Big Bang Theory is an aspiring actress.
• Molly of Mike and Molly quit her job as a teacher to become a writer.
• Don Draper of Mad Men was a creative director in an ad agency.

But can you think of one show where a main character is a graphic designer?

I did a google search and could not find anything. I only found a TV sitcom of a cartoonist (Too Close for Comfort) and an artist (Good Times).

Here is my theory:

Graphic designers typically are halfway between an artist and an art director. We know enough about aesthetics which mostly relates to fine art (psychology of color, typography, images, etc)  to be elitist. But we know enough about marketing (creating ads, branding, etc) to be relevant. Because of this, graphic designers use a lexicon that most people dont know. LOL Inc Magazine has an infographic that lists some of the words: gestalt, white space (or negative space), bleed, kerning, CMYK, etc. There are other words from offset printing but they have been abandoned because of the digital revolution. (There are new words now!)

Advertising professionals have a language too but most of it simply sounds academic like positioning, value proposition, project scope, consumer research, etc. (But they still must battle the perception of stretching the truth in advertising.)

Based on what I posted above, we are more likely to see an advertising executive on TV than a graphic designer. On the sitcom Black-ish, Anthony Anderson plays an advertising executive. So does the late Robin Williams in The Crazy Ones. Why? Because advertising is an important part of American culture. It is so entrenched that if you put a bunch of Americans in a room and ask them to sing a song other than the National Anthem, they will probably belt out a commercial jingle. Heavily researched sameness has been marketed to us since we were young and bonded us together through Superbowl ads and beer commercials. (Ask anyone born between 1965-1975 to sing the Oscar Mayer song.)

On the other hand, graphic designers view formulas like the plague and we like to break the rules. The individual creative side of us delves deep into our artistic psyche rejecting most conventions, explores how humans see and perceive images/text and attempts to produce something that usually does not follow advertising formulas. (Side note: Graphic designers have their share of trends that we imitate as well.)

The finished product may even challenge established grammar structures and how we understand color and image. For example, I like this poster by Paone and Associates. He uses text like images attempting to draw in the viewer also with color, space, images and contrast. I could explain this poster more but I wont do it here.:)

Advertising executives come up with their ideas based on market research. Graphic designers create a product based on human perception, aesthetics and space. The results are markedly different.

Adrian Shaughnessy states in his book, Graphic Design: A Users Manual co-written with graphic designer Michael Bierut, that innovative advertising makes focus groups uncomfortable because, by definition, they have not seen anything like it before, so they are not sure about it. This is an ad exec’s nightmare. The result is advertising that looks the same.

I was trained as a graphic designer but my 20+ years of experience working with nonprofits has helped me develop marketing skills. I have designed ads and been involved with branding. Today, some of the differences between advertising professionals and graphic designers is blurring because of digital marketing.

So nonprofits, if you need someone to give you some ideas based on market research, hire an ad exec. You can find him/her at a nice trendy restaurant. If you need someone to produce an idea based on visual culture research and human perception, go to an art exhibit and ask for a graphic designer. But there are some of us who have learned to do both.:)